Eastern Illinois University
The Keep
Fall 2013
Spring 8-15-2013
ENG 1002G-008: Composition and Literature
John Allison
Eastern Illinois University
Follow this and additional works at: http://thekeep.eiu.edu/english_syllabi_fall2013
Part of the English Language and Literature Commons
Recommended Citation
Allison, John, "ENG 1002G-008: Composition and Literature" (2013). Fall 2013. Paper 40.
http://thekeep.eiu.edu/english_syllabi_fall2013/40
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2013
Instructor: Dr. John Allison
Office: Coleman (3552) 316F
Office Hours: MWF: 11:00-12:00; W: 3:00-4:00
Additional Office Hours By Appointment
Department Phone: 581-2428
Home Phone: 348;..0269
E-mail: [email protected]
COMPOSITION AND LITERATURE (Writing-Centered Course)
ENGLISH 1002G-008
FALL2013
Objectives:
-to promote careful, coherent, substantive writing;
-to encourage active, thoughtful reading of world-class drama, fiction, and poetry;
-to increase understanding of views and cultures represented in literature;
-to sharpen critical thinking -- the analysis of ideas and evidence;
-to provide experience using primary and secondary evidence.
Scope: D~ng the term you will read a range of drama, fiction, and poetry. You will
complete three typed essays of three-four pages (700-800 words) of argument, plus a
"Works Cited." You will write two essays in class (500-600 words each). To help you
write the in-class essays, you can bring outlines but not complete drafts. As a capstone
experience, you will interpret a range of stories and poems during a final in-class exam.
The final exam will require you to write two short interpretations (about 250-300 words
each) and one essay (about 500-600 words). In addition, a portion of your grade will be
based on pop quizzes. Here's a breakdown of the components that will determine your
final grade for the course:
-three out-of-class essays supported with research: 50% of grade
-two in-class essays:
25% of grade
-pop qUizzes:
10% of grade
-final examination:
15% of grade
Grading Policy: For the essays and final, I will grade using a simple ten-point scale. That
is, a 92% is an A-, an 87% is a B+, and so on. When I grade the essays and the final, I
will consider content (purpose, reasoning, evidence), organization and coherence,
grammar and mechanics, and style. Keep in mind that an essay or a final will fail if it is
radically deficient in any of the areas for grading I have mentioned. After all, readers are
served neither by a technically perfect essay that is superficial and empty nor an otherwise
thoughtful essay that is riddled with distracting errors and infelicities.
Revision Opportunity: You can revise your in-class essays for up to 15% over your
original grade.
Late-Work Policy: You are expected to hand in your work on time and in class. You will
forfeit five points each day for late work and five points for work placed in my mail on
the due date.
Attendance Policy: If you are enrolled in another class or engaged in any other activity
that may cause you to miss a significant number of classes in 1002G, you should not
attempt to take 1002G this term. If you have an excused absence, I will arrange time for
you to catch up with written work. For an excused absence, you must provide a
verifiable excuse from Health Service, a doctor, or a University official. After three
unexcused absences, you will forfeit 10% of the course grade and 5% for each subsequent
absence. The same penalties will apply to arriving at class late, leaving class early, and
leaving and returning during class, unless you obtain my approval.
Plagiarism Policy: Plagiarism is a serious offense; it is intellectual theft and fraud.
Accordingly, plagiarism will be punished in conformity with English Department and
University procedures. Here is the English Department's statement concerning
plagiarism:
Any teacher who discovers an act of plagiarism --"The appropriation or imitation
of the language, ideas, and/or thoughts of another author, and representation of
them as one's own work"-- (Random House Dictionary of the English
Language) has the right and the responsibility to impose upon the guilty student an
appropriate penalty, up to and including immediate assignment of a grade of "F"
for the assigned essay and a grade of "F" for the course, and to report the incident
to the Judicial Affairs Office. Respect for the work of others should encompass
all formats, including print, electronic, and oral sources.
Students with Disabilities: If you have a documented disability and wish to receive
academic accommodations, please contact the Coordinator of the Office of Disability
Services (581-6583) as soon as possible.
Writing Portfolio Submissions: If you choose to do so, you may submit one of your
essays for your writing portfolio. Before you submit the essay electronically, give me a
copy of the graded essay. Keep in mind that all submissions must include at least 750
words. To review instructions for electronic submission, go to "Electronic Writing
Portfolio" by using the A to Z index at the upper right of Eastern' s Website.
.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
1. Week of August 19
-Introduction to Course; Writing Assignment: My Reading and Writing
-"Greek Drama" and "Sophocles" (30-40, 69-72)
- Oedipus Rex (73-80)
2. Week of August 26
-Oedipus the King (80-94); Writing Assignment Due: My Reading and
Writing
-Further Discussion of Play; Introduction to Elizabethan Drama (25261)
-"Shakespeare" andA Midsummer Night's Dream (296--305 to Act II)
3. Week of September 2
-Labor Day: No Classes
-A Midsummer Night's Dream (305-329)
- Further Discussion of Play; Assignment for In-class Essay of
Interpretive Summary of a Play
4. Week of September 9
-"Arthur Miller" and Death ofa Salesman (1065-1086 to Act II)
-Death ofa Salesman (1086-1106)
-Further Discussion of the Play; Review of Outlines for In-class Essay
5. Week of September 16
-Review of Outlines for In-Class Essay; Introduction
to Narrative Fiction
-Writing Your In-class Essay (Bring outlines.)
-Finishing/Editing Your In-class Essay
6. Week of September 23
-Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1115-31 ); Assignment for Out-of-Class
Essay of Interpretive Summary of Drama
-Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" (1109-14);
-Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown'' (528-37); Assignment for In-Class
Essay of Analysis
7.
Week of September 30
-Oilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" (461-73)
Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" (408-15)
-O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" (1042-53);
-Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener" (878-888); Out-of-Class Essay of
Interpretation of Drama Due
•••
8. Week of October 7
-"Bartleby, the Scrivener" (888-904)
-Cather's "Paul's Case" (228-42)
-Fall Break: No Classes
9. Week of October 14
-Review of Outlines for In-class Essay; Fitzgerald's "Babylon Revisited" (42844)
-Writing Your In-class Essay of Analysis of a Story
-Finishing/Editing Your In-class Essay
10. Week of October 21
-Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues" (57-80)
-Cheever's "The Swimmer" (247-55)
-Oates' "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" (988-1000)
11. Week of October 28
-Introduction to Poetry; "Writing about Poetry: From Inquiry to Final Paper"
(58-65); Discussion of "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" (79)
- Dancing an Attitude: "Because I could not stop
for Death" (336-37), "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" (253-54)
"To an Athlete Dying Young" (631-32), "That time of year thou mayst in me
behold" (642-43)
12. WeekofNovember4
-Now for Something Completely Different: "Anecdote of the Jar" (171), "Kubla
Kahn: or, a Vision in a Dream" (621-22), "This is Just to Say" (652); Handout
of Poe's "Annabel Lee"
-Rhythm and Rhyme (194-98, 217-21)
-Analysis of"Annabel Lee"
13. Week of November 11
-Out-of-Class Essay Comparing or Contrasting Stories Due; "Ode to the
West Wind" (264-67) "
-Ode on a Grecian Um" (94-95), from "Song of Myself' (182-83)
-"'Heaven"-is what I cannot reach" (326), "'Hope' is the thing with feathers"
(326),"The Robin's my Criterion for Tune-" (327), ''Much Madness is divinest
Sense-" (331), "One need not be a Chamber-to be Haunted-" (336)
14. Week of April November 18
-"To His Coy Mistress" (80-81), "My Last Duchess" (180-81), Students'
Selection of Poems
-"Ulysses" (647-484), "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (494-98)
-Hand in titles of three poems, with pages, for class discussion; "1,Too" (407),
"Old Walt" (424),
~._'!!-!
"Ballad of the Landlord" (417), "50-50" (419)
Thanksgiving Break: No Classes
15. Week of December 2
-Discussion of Poems You've Chosen; Out-of-Class Essay on Poetry Due
-Discussion of Poems You've Chosen
-Preparation for Final Examination
NOTES